The House on the Hill
by Jing Mei Chen
Summary: co-written with my friend Sam * Romano gives the staff of the ER a challenge..to stay in his haunted mansion for one night
1. Default Chapter

He threw the folded paper in front of Kerry, the listing circled in yellow highlighter  
  
She raised an eyebrow  
  
"Come on Kerry.."  
*******************************  
Kerry sat on the chair next to the coffee pot in the lounge and watched them trickle in slowly.There was no talking Robert out of this..  
  
Pacing the lounge, in front of the entire ER staff, Robert pointed a finger at Kerry, "This is for real Kerry. I have the best real estate agent in the state and she says the place is haunted. Now of course, I'd love to go and check it out for myself, but sadly...there are charity events to attend, press conferences to be held..."  
  
  
"But all of them.." she shook her head,"This is too much,even for you.."  
  
  
"Oh please," Robert waved a hand at her and turned to Carter sitting closest to him. He gave him a playful punch on the shoulder,"It's a huge mansion, Kerry. Come on, don't tell me you wouldn't love to have all of them out of your hair for a night?!"   
  
  
"He's lost his mind" Jing Mei hissed in Carter's ear  
  
Carter turned to look at her and chuckled."If we do it, he said he'd let us be.."  
  
Jing Mei rolled her eyes  
  
Kerry pursed her lips."Ask them" she stood up,preparing to leave the lounge,"Ask them , not me"  
  
"Well it's a done deal then," he stepped towards the door, pulling it open to leave without another word, but he instead popped his head back in. "Oh and I shouldn't have to remind you that your jobs are at stake if you decide not to go. The address is right there. Don't forget - you can always call the Ghostbusters!" Robert called over his shoulder as he sauntered away down the hall.   
  
"Someone should tell Cleo" Dave announced,"She's going to want to know this.."  
************************************  
Abby let out a disgusted sigh, rolling her eyes. "He really is insane. I don't believe this," she just shook her head and turned to stare at Luka.   
  
  
"Uh, who are the Ghostbusters?" Luka asked innocently.  
  
"The Ghostbusters!" Dave cried,"Ahhhhhh man,what's she done to you? The Ghostbusters is like the best movie"  
  
  
Abby leaned against the locker and narrowed her eyes."Go away Dave.."  
  
"There's this big marshamallow guy.."  
  
"Go away Dave"  
  
***************************************  
Carter held the lounge door open for Jing Mei."How do you feel about slumber parties"  
  
Deb raised an eyebrow,"What are you trying to say?"  
  
  
"I'm not saying anything!" he claimed defensively. "So what pajamas are you bringing?"  
  
  
"For me to know" Deb teased ,"And you to find out" she brushed past him towards the front desk  
  
"I see how it goes..." Carter whirled around to follow her. "This really is weird - Romano asking us to spend the night in *his* haunted mansion," he raised an eyebrow. "Sounds like someone's afraid of monsters under the bed..."   
  
Deb chuckled,"What's our initive? What do we get for doing this?"  
  
"Doing what?" Mark stood behind the admit desk,flipping through a chart,"You had the head lac,right?"  
  
Deb nodded  
  
"Oh Dr. Greene, didn't you hear? Romano's recruited the entire ER staff to spend the night in his haunted mansion." Carter shook his head, still somewhat baffled.  
  
Mark scratched his neck,"All of us?"  
  
"All of us." Carter replied, erasing his name from a spot on the board.   
  
"All of us, indeed!" came a harsh British tone from behind them. "Hello darling," Elizabeth gave Mark a quick kiss and walked beside Carter, looking at the board. Finding nothing she turned back to him, "It was the only bloody thing he could talk about during surgery this morning! Who on earth am I going to find to watch Ella?"   
  
Deb smirked,folding her arms across her chest,"You too?"  
  
"We could take Ella with us, what are the chances this is for real?" Mark answered,"I mean,we're talking about Romano here .."  
  
"Are you serious, Mark? This house is huge - deserted for something like 50 years, no electricity, no water! Believe me, I heard *all* about it. Maybe there's someway I could talk him out of making me go..." Elizabeth sighed and blew a stray curl from her face.  
  
Deb caught Carter's eye and tried hard to keep from laughing out loud. They both knew of a way Elizabeth could get out of it, she just wasn't going to say it  
  
"There's always Rachel.." Mark said timidly  
  
There is..." Elizabeth replied with some hesitation.   
  
"It's only for one night..."  
  
Deb raised an eyebrow,"That would be our cue to leave" she motioned to Carter  
  
****************************************  
  
"It's only for one night, Abby." Luka said across the gurney, glancing up from the sutures.  
  
She pursed her lips."One night, in the same house with HIM" Abby pointed to Dave,spinning around in a desk chair  
  
  
Luka chuckled. "It will be quite the experience..." he replied, snipping the last thread.  
  
"Yeah" Abby replied bitterly, half heartedly throwing the bandage at him,"Yeah it will...you're enjoying this aren't you?"  
  
"For now," he grinned, "we'll see tonight... All set Mr. Johnson, come back in 10 days to have those removed." Luka ducked out into the hallway, trying to avoid another flying roll of tape from Abby's direction.  
********************************************  
Kerry managed to sneak herself back into the lounge, avoiding their glares. Only Abby seemed angry, Carter and Luka took this as a challenge of their manhood. * Men* Kerry chuckled,*Everything's a challenge of their manhood*  
******************************************** 


	2. on their way...

Kerry stood at the doors to the ambulance bay and watched everyone around her scurry packing Mark's van.  
  
"I ..don't think it's going to fit" Mark said sheepishly as Carter tried to stuff his bag into the back  
  
"I'm sure...*ugh!* it will......." Carter said throwing his weight into shoving the bag into the van. "Come on, I didn't pack *that* much," he responded with a palms up gesture to the stares he received from his co-workers.  
weetzie168: Abby stood in the curb,smashing the cigarette under her foot smirking."RIght Carter...." she motioned to Luka unloading their bags,"It's only a night"  
  
Deb chuckled  
  
"Liz.." Mark winced,"We should get another car or something.."  
  
"Just for John's stuff" Deb laughed  
  
"More like the or something.....more like a trailer!" Elizabeth crossed her arms in front of her still put off with the idea of leaving Ella with Rachel for a night.  
  
"Hey, did anyone pack Twister?!" Dave jumped into the circle, rubbing his hands together with excitement.  
  
  
"Twister?" Abby raised an eyebrow  
  
Mark shook his head in disbelief,"Twister,Dave?"  
  
"Ohhhh yeah, it's a great game!" Dave exclaimed, though almost everyone had stopped paying attention.  
  
Luka took a few steps over towards Kerry. "So he's really making us do this?" he asked with a shake of his head.  
  
Kerry nodded solemnly  
  
"Can he really fire us if we don't??" Abby kept an eye on Dave warily  
  
Kerry nodded  
  
"Guess we should get going then..." Carter sighed and jumped into the van.  
  
"Shove over" Deb tapped her foot ,"Johnnnnn"  
  
"This" Abby glared,"Should be fun"  
  
Mark nodded, sliding into the driver's seat."Anyone got the directions?"  
  
"I have them," Elizabeth handed Mark the crinkled piece of paper. "He wouldn't let me leave yesterday without them..."  
  
"Alright" Mark watched in the mirror as Luka buckled himself in."Everybody ready?"  
  
"Yes..." came the collective groan and they drove off.  
  
"Then let's go.." 


	3. beware of the spiders

Mark pursed his lips,scratching his head."10342 Brookshire..this is it"  
  
"This?" Carter raised an eyebrow at the building before him.  
  
"Not exactly how I'd pictured it..." Elizabeth muttered.  
  
Abby leaned her head against Luka's shoulder."So you have motion sickness"  
  
"It's falling apart" Deb proclaimed  
  
Luka rubbed one hand against Abby's back, staring out the window at the old house. "And we have to stay here overnight?"  
  
"Okay..so it's not what we thought.." Mark started  
  
"Whatever you do,don't do the speech" Deb groaned, sliding the side door of the van open as Mark brought the van to a slow  
  
"Door, Jing Mei!"  
  
"It's like being with my family" Deb fell back into the seat and stared at Carter."What?"  
  
"What do you mean what?" Carter smirked in Deb's direction. "Hope we brought enough people to ward off the ghosts," he chuckled and slid the door open.  
  
"Is someone afarid of ghosts?" Deb raised an eyebrow  
  
Abby chuckled,"Just keep me far away from..."  
  
"Who you gonna call..." Dave jumped from the van,"GHOST BUSTERS!!! I ain't afarid of no ghosts!"  
  
"Him" Abby smirked  
  
"Let's get our things inside and see what this place is really all about..." Elizabeth muttered, pulling her own bags from the van and dragging them up the dilapidated wooden steps.   
  
Dave stood at the foot of the stairs, the color draining from his face  
  
"You work the ER Dave" Mark passed him heading up the stairs after Elizabeth,"It's just a spider"  
  
"It's a black widow" Dave said quietly  
  
"Are you sure?" Carter asked, peering over his shoulder at the large spider.  
  
Deb raised an eyebrow  
  
"Oohhh" Abby chuckled,"I feel realllllyyyyyy safe with these two"  
  
: Luka merely shook his head and grabbed a loose wooden plank from the floor. *SMACK* The spider was smushed on the wall. "Problem solved," he smirked as they continued up the stairs, each one creaked with every footfall.  
  
"My hero" Abby chuckled climbing the stairs behind him  
  
Deb just looked at Carter and shook her head."You see that John.."  
  
"Any day now you 5" Mark called from the doorway of the house, the termite eaten doors swinging off the hinges.  
  
"Yeah, whatever..." Carter mumbled, staring up at the walls and the ceiling. Extremely ancient wallpaper hung from the walls in pieces - the marks strangely resembled those of some very large cat...   
  
Deb laughed  
  
Mark cleared his throat."If you're done"  
  
Deb smiled  
  
"Right...I figured you each were grown ups" Mark moved over to let the spider fall from the ceiling  
  
"Ahhhh!!!" Dave screamed  
  
"Some of you were grown ups" he finished,"So you can decide on your own sleeping arrangements"  
  
Most of the rooms visible to them were decorated sparsely with furniture - many covered in thick plastic. Elizabeth wrinkled her nose at the dust floating in the air. "The bedrooms must be up there," she pointed up the winding staircase.   
  
"Now that was a girly scream if I ever heard one..." Carter laughed.  
  
"Just like in those movies.." Abby looked up the staircase ,clasping Luka's hand,"They get the rooms up the staircase that's falling apart.."  
  
"And then some ghost comes and someone falls down " Deb finished  
  
Abby nodded  
  
"Sp..sp..spider" Dave gasped  
  
"Dave, ignore the spiders and get up the stairs," Luka gave him a gentle shove forward with his free hand.  
  
"noooooooooo...spider!"  
  
"If Luka and Abby are rooming together.." Deb started,"And Dr.Greene and Dr.Corday...who do I get stuck with"  
  
Dave raised an eyebrow  
  
"Ohhhh god" Deb groaned,collasping on the bottom step."Ahhh!"  
  
"Hey, what about me?" Carter replied defensively.  
  
Mark pushed his glasses to his forehead and rubbed his neck."Dave,couch. Carter with Chen, hands to yourself"  
  
Deb blushed  
  
"I guess this one's ours," Luka said, leading Abby into the room and setting their bags down gently - as if putting them down any harder would put a hole through the floor.  
  
"Don't do that you're scaring me" Abby peered into the room cautiously  
  
"Don't do what? I didn't do anything..." Luka replied, looking down at the mattress on the wooden floor.  
  
"That! Don't do that!" Abby cried   
  
"I'm not doing anything, Abby," he raised his hands above his shoulders.  
  
Carter jogged up the stairs behind Deb. "So, did you bring those pajamas we talked about?"   
  
She turned around and narrowed her eyes."I'm only doing this because I want to keep my job..you know that,right?" 


	4. now there's a spider on the floor..

"Well, so am I," Carter stated, looking back at Dave who intently searched for spiders.  
  
Deb stopped in the doorway."there's one bed"  
  
"I guess we'll have to be *grown ups* about this then..." he trailed off, scratching the top of his head.  
  
"Right.." Deb took a deep breath,"Grownups"  
***************************  
"RATS!!"  
  
Abby pulled her pillow up over her head."He's afarid of rats"  
  
Mark winced sitting on the edge of the bed listening to Dave race up the stairs, just staring at Elizabeth  
  
"HELLPPP!!" Dave cried  
  
Mark looked down at his watch."7 and someone has already cried help.."  
  
"God Mark, I hope Ella's alright. Do you think we should call?" Elizabeth questioned as she brushed cobwebs from her face.  
  
"One sec" he raised a hand,"I've got to take care of my other kids" Mark reached into his bag and tossed her the cell phone  
  
"I'm STUCK!" Dave cried  
  
Abby stopped,"Luka?"  
  
"Stuck where?" Luka asked. He couldn't even see Dave.  
  
"Down here" he yelled  
  
Deb jumped up and ran to the door."Where?'  
  
"DOWN HERE!"  
  
"Where's 'down here'?" Carter called out, trying to follow his voice.  
  
"Here!"  
  
Mark started down the staircase."Ahhh" he fell back  
  
Deb ran to see what Mark saw."Shit...the staircase is gone"   
  
"not gone.." Mark looked up at the panicked faces,:There's just a hole.."  
  
Luka pulled Abby back from the edge a little and stood slightly in front of her. "Is there another way up?"  
  
"How about down?" Deb asked  
  
Mark shrugged."One thing at a time.Dave.."  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
Mark chuckled,"I think I found your room for the night"  
  
"That sooo o o o o o o o isn't funny!" Dave cried  
  
"What about tying some sheets together? Make a rope or something..." Carter suggested, looking around.  
  
"I love you man!" Dave cried,"Always have.."  
  
"I say we leave him down there" Abby muttered,turning around to go back to her room  
  
"Only downfall to that is us being stuck up here," Elizabeth pointed out. "No Rachel, the breastmilk has to be heated on low for 2 minutes," she spoke into the cell phone.  
  
"Luka.." Mark called,"Can you give me a hand?? Abby?"  
  
Deb leaned against the staircase,smirking  
  
Luka nodded, walking closer to him, and waiting to hear Mark's plan.  
  
"You too ,Jing Mei" Mark called over his shoulders."Carter,get a flashlight,Abby..Jing Mei,let's try the sheets tied together thing" 


	5. I can be your hero....

Carter rummaged through his bag and pulled out the flashlight, running back to Mark with it.  
  
"There is another way down..." Luka said, and took a few careful steps down to wear the hole began. Slowly sliding down to the very edge, he jumped the rest of the way to the floor with a loud *thud* Although being tall made the jump slightly better... "We can stack some furniture from down here," he suggested, standing to brush himself off.  
  
"I swear." Abby threw her hands up,starting back towards the room  
  
Deb peered down into the hole,"You alright Luka?"  
  
"Luka!" Dave cried  
  
"Yes,Luka"  
  
  
  
"You alright man?" Dave turned to the shadow standing next to him  
  
"Yeah, fine," Luka muttered. "Help me move this table, Dave." Reaching for one edge to drag it under the stairs.  
  
"Right..right.."  
  
Deb sat at the edge of the top step next to Elizabeth,her head in her hands  
  
Carter sighed, and tried to move the flashlight to wherever the action was. Getting slightly impatient for something to happen, he leaned against the wall, but was surprised when the wall moved away from him and he spun into some secret passageway. Whatever entrance he used, was now shut and he was surrounded by darkness. "Shit," he cursed.  
  
"Yes there are extra diapers in the cabinet downstairs. Alright. Yes, thank you," Elizabeth closed the cell phone with a sigh and realized that whatever light was available was now missing. "Where did Carter go?" she turned around. 


End file.
